Sunday, August 21, 2011

Falling Fast

I’ve decided to take a break from cutting out thousands of laminated apples for my classroom. I have put Top Gun on pausejust as Val Kilmner is about to serve a volleyball ball. I have a cup of tea in my hand with a little milk and a sugar twin. My toes are cold from my cooling wooden floors so I'm snug as a bug in a rug in a blanket. It seems fitting to write about this;

Around this time of August I get an autumn itch. The days are sunny and warm but the dropping over night temperatures give me a chill in the morning almost tempting me to turn on the heat for a moment. The anticipation of fall is every where. The lawn chairs, BBQ’s, and super soakers have been taken off the shelves and replaced with binders, pencil boxes, and lunch kits. I am beguiled by the look of school supplies which might have had a part in my becoming a teacher. They are colorful, welcoming, and in abundance! My favorite school supply is a brand new sharpened pencil with a bendy pink top. I love the line in the film, You’ve Got Mail, where Tom Hanks charmingly emails to Meg Ryan; “Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.” I watch that movie every year around this time.

I feel elated through the month of September with the turning of the trees to gold and the crunching of the fallen leaves beneath my feet. The cool mornings and hot afternoons always take me back to my sister and I in our ‘first day of school’ outfits. My mom would always take a picture before sending us out the door with our new backpacks filled with fresh paper, scribblers, and new beginnings. As the month progresses, there is a distinctive perfume of damp leaves from the morning dew that is heavy in the morning air.The scent becomes more light in fragrance as the leaves roast in the afternoon sun. The children at school are giddy with excitement, shedding their coats on the playground while waiting for their bus to arrive. Laughter fills the air as the children twirl under large tree branches shaking off their colorful leaves and trudge through the piles on the ground.

Lastly, fall makes me want to eat comfort food that is cooked in the oven and crock pots.Barbequed steak and potato salad wears thin with the cooling evenings and I start to crave turkey dinners with masked potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and warm buns.I want to eat pumpkin pie, make candy apples, and tear into Halloween candy. A hot cup of hot chocolate hits the spot after a long work day as I put my feet up and take it all in. Fall/Autumn is truly the season I enjoy and can’t wait for it to begin!